Never Eat Strawberries
by NintendoGal55
Summary: Adaptation of Kasu-Kapl's comic of the same title. Arnold learns the hard way that Helga should never eat strawberries.


**Hi, everyone! :D This is a belated super gift for my awesome friend/unrelated sister Maria, aka Kasu-Kapl! OwO This is based on her latest comic. I was going to do one based on another comic, but someone beat me to it. XD So, I finally managed to bring up a better idea to do.**

**This is Post-TJM, as I said in the summary. ;) Our dear boy Arnold learns the hard way that Helga should NEVER eat strawberries! XD**

**...SID! XD Oh God! I CAN'T look at Sid the same way anymore! Thanks a lot, One Fine Wire! You have rotted my brain!**

**Disclaimer is obvious. You know I don't own the characters.**

XXX

Quite a few weeks had passed since the jungle adventure in San Lorenzo had occurred, and despite the journey continuing to loom over everyone's heads like a cloud, everything was pretty much back to normal. The kids, Mr. Simmons and Principal Wartz were all glad to be home, and most especially Miles and Stella as well. Things were going well, very well.

Especially for a certain couple of Mr. Simmons' now fifth grade class.

Which brings us to today.

In the cafeteria, it was lunchtime, and one table in particular, where Arnold sat with Sid, Gerald and Harold, they were eating the dessert of the day. Strawberry short cake. And by the looks of their smiling faces, it was quite delicious.

"Boy howdy, the lunch lady got it right today! This strawberry cake is so awesome!" Sid exclaimed happily.

"Mm-hmm." Arnold agreed, having taken another bite of his own cake. His jade eyes then drifted to the nearby clock, seeing that it was now 11:20. Placing his fork down, he then stood up, bringing a hand to the back of his neck in a sheepish manner. "Oh, is that the time? Sorry guys, I have to leave...I have to... to take care of something. See you in class!" If one looked closely, you could see that he was blushing.

Sid, Gerald, and Harold stared after him as Arnold left the cafeteria. If they'd been closer, they would have heard him whistling and sighing dreamily to himself. As well as the goofy, lovesick smile that had taken a turn on his face.

"Man, Arnold's been acting pretty weird since we came back from San Lorenzo. What's his deal?" Sid wondered.

"You would never believe it." Gerald muttered dryly, rolling his eyes. "My man Arnold completely lost his mind."

"Can I have the rest of his food?" Harold piped up.

XXX

Several minutes later, much to just about anyone's surprise, Helga Pataki was now in the nurse's office on one of the beds. Her body was covered with hives, as well as her lips being pretty swollen. Arnold sat on a chair next to her bed, looking very ashamed and sad, while Eugene was on the bed next to hers. He had bandages on on his face, and his left arm in a cast and sling. It was probably his second or third trip to the nurse's office all day.

"Gosh Helga, you look horrible!" Eugene exclaimed in surprise and concern. "Are you allergic to strawberries?"

A curt nod came from Helga in response as she stared straight ahead, her arms crossed and scowling quite a bit.

"Then you shouldn't have eaten dessert today." Eugene went on, shaking his head. "Luckily Arnold was walking there to assist you."

"Believe me, bucko. Arnold was precisely not the solver of my problem." Helga muttered crossly.

Lowering his voice, Arnold whispered to her, "Helga...I'm really sorry about...this. I didn't..."

Helga turned to Arnold with an amused smirk, raising one side of her eyebrow. "Don't worry about it, Football Head. At least it was worth it."

So, what happened here?

As it turned out, Arnold had actually left the cafeteria and headed straight to the nearest janitor's closet. The reason for that, was of course to meet Helga there so they could kiss (more like make out!) in private and finally have some time to be alone together and in love. On a daily basis in front of their classmates, they had to maintain their original status quo. No one knew that the two were actually dating. It was a huge, well-kept secret (hopefully) at the moment.

So upon arrival, the two of them soon got busy and went into a little smooching. However, after some time, Helga pulled away and said she was feeling funny. Arnold grew concerned and asked her what was wrong. Before they knew it, her lips were swelling up considerably! Arnold began to panic, especially since reddish blemishes appeared on her face, arms and legs, becoming more and more prominent by the minute. Helga now realized she had somehow ingested strawberries, which was the one thing she was allergic to.

Arnold, having not known, had transferred the strawberry taste over to her mouth, and therefore caused an allergic reaction. Almost as if it were the case of mono, which had been common to happen sometimes, especially among sixth graders. It happened as they kissed, naturally. Because of it all, Helga had an allergic reaction and they rushed to the nurse's office to see what was the problem and how it happened.

He now felt terrible, how could he have not known? Had it really never come up? Had he never asked if she had any allergies? She stayed for dinner a lot at the boarding house, and she claimed she wasn't too picky about food (some of the time!), nor was she a vegetarian or anything like that. And strawberry-related dishes just never came into play.

Raspberries, on the other hand...

Now here they were. Arnold felt dismayed that he had actually been the cause of Helga's allergic reaction like this. Yes, she did say not to worry, but he couldn't help but worry anyway. It was no fun to have to deal with breaking out like this. He wished he could do something to fix it.

When Eugene wasn't looking, Helga snapped Arnold out of his stupor by grabbing his collar and planting another kiss on his lips. He panicked, afraid it would make her condition worse, but of course he could never resist her...

Helga smirked as she let go, looking him in the eye. "Just taking one for the road. At least until you wipe out all traces of strawberry from your mouth."

Arnold blushed all the more and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "Whatever you say, Helga."


End file.
